Wrapper



Jan. 24, 1956 F. G. DEDEK ET AL 2,732,063

WRAPPER Filed Feb. 20, 1952 INVENTORS FRANK 6. 0605/1 BY NARI/IN GSCHAAR zaewm A TTOI'PNEYS United States Patent "ice WRAPPER Frank G. Dedek, Detroit, and Marvin George Schaar, Dearborn, Mich., assignors to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application February 20, 1952, Serial No. 272,604

6 Claims. (Cl. 206-46) The present invention relates to means and methods for Wrapping flexible sheet materials into compact packages and to packages so formed, and more particularly to a wrapper for wrapping sheet materials, such as paper currency, into cylindrical packages of equal size, whether one or several separate sheets are contained in each package.

It is often desired to make up various sums of currency into compact packages of equal and uniform size, particularly for use with automatic currency dispensing systems. However, if diiferent numbers of bills are made up into packages of equal size in the conventional manner by rolling them up from one end and then fastening a wrapper about the roll, the packages containing the smallest number of bills will be too loose to keep their shape and are likely to cause the dispensing mechanism to malfunction, and, furthermore, the bills and wrapper in such a loose package are likely to become separated during handling. It has been proposed in the past to use equally sized cylindrical containers for receiving paper bills, but if such containers are made of sufiicient size to receive the largest number of bills to be accommodated, a single bill inserted therein would require a filler or some other means to keep it from falling out. A package formed by rolling paper bills and wrapper together from one end thereof and sealed would prevent separation of bills and wrapper but such a package would be very loose if it contained only a few bills and was made to the same size as a package similarly wrapped and containing a larger number of bills.

Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a novel, simple and inexpensive self-sealing wrapper for Wrapping sheet materials into packages of uniform size.

Another object is to provide a simple and effective wrapper for Wrapping different numbers of sheets of flexible material into equally sized packages.

Another object is to provide a simple self-sealing wrapper for wrapping different numbers of bills of paper currency into uniformly sized packages.

A further object is to provide a simple wrapper for paper currency including means for readily sealing the package and means for readily breaking the seal.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a self-sealing type flexible wrapper particularly adapted for holding paper currency in a reversely rolled condition.

Another object is to provide a paper currency wrapper having registering adhesive areas thereon for sealing rolled currency and having a tear strip embracing one of the adhesive areas for readily breaking the seal of the package.

A more specific object of the present invention' is to provide an improved wrapper for holding paper currency in a rolled condition, which wrapper is in the form of a band made of flexible material such as paper and is provided on obverse sides and near one end thereof with longitudinally spaced areas of adhesivematerial of the 2,732,063 Patented Jan. 24, 1956 kind which will adhere to itself but not to materials of dissimilar character.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel package of sheet materials wherein the sheets are in a reversely wrapped condition under radial tension so as to give the package a firm exterior surface when one or more sheets are wrapped therein.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel method for wrapping various numbers of sheets of flexible material into packages of equal size to provide an improved package wherein the sheets are kept in place and which will have a firm exterior surface.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of illustrative embodiments of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a wrapper with material to be wrapped in position thereon, together with a wrapping mechanism which may be utilized for automatically wrapping the package;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a package wrapped in the wrapper of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 3, partially cut away to show the tear strip and seal;

Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective views of portions of modified forms of the wrapper of the present invention; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a package wrapped in the wrapper of Fig. 6.

The wrapper in accordance with the present invention is designated by reference numeral 10 and is seen in Fig. 1 as it would appear when lying on a flat supporting surface. Inasmuch as the wrapper is particularly suitable for wrapping-paper currency it is shown together with a bill 13, but it will, of course, be readily apparent that the wrapper may be used with any kind of flexible sheet material to be Wrapped.

The wrapper is provided with an area of adhesive material on each side and near one end thereof disposed so as to contact each other when the wrapper and the flexible material are rolled up together. The adhesive material is preferably of the kind generally known in the art as dry adhesive which will adhere only to coatings of the same substance and which does not require wetting of any kind. Such materials are well known in the art and may be of a latex rubber composition dissolved in a suitable solvent to proper consistency for application to the wrapper. In Fig. 1 the wrapper is shown as having an area of dry adhesive coating on the under side as viewed in the drawing near the end of the wrapper and indicated by dotted lines. On the upper side of the Wrapper and spaced longitudinally from area 14 is a second area 15 coated with the same kind of adhesive material. These areas should be spaced by a distance substantially equal to the desired circumference of the wrapped package so that area 14 will contact area 15 at least over a substantial portion thereof when wrapped in a manner to be described later.

The wrapper is shown as being of uniform Width and having both ends thereof of gradually narrowing width. The general outline, particularly that of the end portion carrying the sealing adhesive, is of importance in producing a rigid and strong package when formed in the manner to be described in detail hereinafter. Furthermore, by using wrappers having the outline shown, the packages formed thereby will have no protruding surfaces or loose flaps likely to cause snagging or interlocking between a plurality of similar packages supported in a common container, such as, for example, when used with a currency dispensing device. As shown in the drawings, the ends of the wrapper have the general outline of an isosceles trapezoid and this is of particular importance in the case of the sealing end of the wrapper for reasons which will be pointed out later.

When using the dry adhesive mentioned above the bond between the sealing areas will be so strong that it will be impracticable to break the seal of a wrapped package by tearing the adhesive areas apart, and in order to permit the wrapped package to be readily opened, the wrapper is in accordance with the invention provided with tear strip which-embraces one of the coated areas. In Fig. 1 the tear strip 16 includes adhesive area 15 and is defined by perforations 17 in the wrapper extending on each side of this area between cutouts 18 and 19 provided at opposite ends thereof. At least cutout 18 located between area 15 and the nearest end of the wrapper is of such size as to permit some object such as a fingernail to be introduced therein to engage the tear strip edge thereof. It will be noted in Fig. 1 that cutout 13 is of substantially half-moon shape with the tear strip edge 20 thereof substantially straight to facilitate gripping the edge to tear off the strip.

Fig. 3 shows the wrapper and bill 13 of Fig. 1 rolled together into a cylindrical package with area 14 in engagement with area 15 and sealed thereto. To break the seal of the package to remove the bill, some object such as a fingernail, for example, is inserted underneath the tear strip edge of cutout 1% and the wrapper is torn along the perforations 17 to cutout 19. The seal of the package will then have been broken and the contents may be removed. It will be noted from the end view of the rolled package in Fig. 4 that edge 20, when made straight, will project outwardly somewhat from the periphery of the rolled package and may easily be engaged by a fingernail, for example. A tab may be provided on this edge to project into the cutout to further facilitate tearing out this strip.

Figs. 5 and 6 show the tear strip as embracing the adhesive area at the end of the wrapper. Thus Fig. 5 shows the end of a wrapper 22 of the same general shape as Wrapper 10 and having adhesive areas 23 and 24 on opposite sides thereof and spaced apart longitudinally. The tear strip is formed between an oval shaped cutout 25 disposed between the adhesive areas and connected to opposite edges of the wrapper by diverging perforations 26 disposed on opposite sides of adhesive area 24. The seal of the wrapped package is broken by engaging the tear strip edge 27 of cutout 25 and tearing along the perforations. The sealing end of the wrapper 39 shown in Fig. 6 differs somewhat in shape from that of wrappers 10 and 22 in that a tab 31 extends forwardly therefrom and carries the forward adhesive area 32. It is provided with cutout 33 which in this case is shown to be arcuate in shape and is connected to the edges of the wrapper on opposite sides of tab 31 by perforations extending along diverging lines 34. The arcuate form of the cutout provides a lip 35 which is readily gripped between the ends of two fingers. Fig. 7 illustrates a rolled package formed by using the wrapper shown in Fig. 6 and containing a single bill.

The wrapper in accordance with the present invention is particularly well suited for forming cylindrical sealed packages such as illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 7 by rolling flexible sheet materials upon themselves. Such packages may readily be formed by placing the material to be wrapped upon the wrapper on that side thereof on which the inside adhesive area is located in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1, engaging the stacked wrapper and material between a pair of elongated members extending across the stack substantially normal to the length dimension of the wrapper and then turning the members together so as to roll the flexible material and the wrapper thereabout to form a cylinder. It will be evident that the inside adhesive area 15 of wrapper 10 must extend beyond the material to be wrapped and the wrapping members must engage the stack at such a position that.

the outside adhesive area 14 will clear the opposite end of the stack when it is rolled up. A forked member or even two fingers may be used as the two wrapping members mentioned, but a wrapping mechanism such as that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is particularly effective for this purpose.

The wrapping mechanism shown may be constructed and arranged as described and claimed in the copending patent application of Emerson E. Pies, Serial No. 171,981, filed July 3, 1950, which has matured into Patent No. 2,696,335, dated December 7, 1954, and may be operated in the manner disclosed in that application. The wrapping mechanism is provided with a plate 40 for supporting the material to be wrapped. The plate is formed in two parts separated so as to accommodate therebetween a wrapping mandrel 41 extending through a circular cylindrical guide or mandrel cage 42. The wrapping portion of the mandrel is in the shape of a fork made up of two parallel leg members 43 and 44 having a space 45 therebetwcen. A stop 46 is secured to the supporting plate at a distance from the mandrel somewhat less than the total length of the wrapper to be used.

The forked mandrel is mounted so as to rotate about an axis substantially normal to the length direction of a wrapper placed on the supporting plate 40 and lying substantially in the plane of the plate. The cylindrical guide is provided with diametrically opposed longitudinal slots 47 and is mounted so that these slots will be in alignment with the surface of the supporting plate and so that the axis of rotation of the included mandrel is substantially centered therein. The forked mandrel 41 is initially positioned so that the open space 45 between the forked ends thereof and the slots 47 in the casing form an open passage permitting the wrapper together with the material to be wrapped to be inserted therein as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

An actuating mechanism including a rotary solenoid such as that described in detail in the above identified application may be utilized for rotating mandrel 41 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, that is, in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in the drawing, for a certain number of revolutions sufiicient to completely roll up the wrapper and sheet material to be wrapped, whereupon ejecting means, such as also described in the Emerson E. Pies application, may be utilized to force the rolled package outwardly off the forked end of the mandrel. Means are also preferably provided for causing the mandrel to stop in its initial position with the opening between the legs of the fork in alignment with the longitudinal slots of cylindrical casing after the wrapped package has been ejected. The wrapping mechanism forms no part of the present invention but is described in order to better understand the true nature of the invention.

The manner in which a wrapper of the present invention is utilized to provide a sealed cylindrical package of paper currency (Figs. 3, 4 and 7) will now be described (Figs. 1 and 2). A stack made up the wrapper and the desired number of bills is placed on plate 40 and slid through the aligned openings 45 and 47 of the forked end of mandrel 41 and cylindrical guide 42, respectively, against stop 46.

It is necesary that the portion of the wrapper carrying the sealing areas and extending to the right from the mandrel as viewed in the drawing is somewhat longer than the portion of the material or wrapper on the other side of the mandrel in order that adhesive area 1.4 will not be covered when the wrapper and material are rolled up. It will speed up the Wrapping operation if the wrapper is made of such length that the portions on opposite sides of the mandrel are correctly proportioned when the end of the wrapper abuts stop 46. Care must be taken that the material to be wrapped terminates short of adhesive area 15 so that the latter may be engaged by area 14. The finished package will have a neater appearance and the edges of the wrapped material will be protected against scuffing if the wrapper is of the guide 42.

same width as such material. In the-illustrated embodiment the wrapper is designed to wrap paper currency and it is made of the same width as a bill and of such length that a bill will not cover area 15 when the bill and wrapper'are rolled up together. The number of bills that may be wrapped within one wrapper will depend on the spacing -45 of the forked end of mandrel 41 and on the clearance between members 43 and 4'4 of the mandrel and the inside surface of the cylindrical It has been found that a single bill is correctly wrapped even if the wrapping mechanism is designed to accommodate a considerable number of bills.

When the stack made up of wrapper and bills, shown in the drawing as a single bill 13, is placed on supporting plate 40 as shown and the mandrel is rotated rapidly in the direction indicated by the arrow, the stack will be reversely wrapped, or Wrapped upon itself, starting from a point intermediate its ends. Thus as the mandrel is rotated, the left hand side of the stack will be pulled downwardly through the left hand slot 47 in guide 42 andthe right handside upwardly through the other slot in the guide until the stack is completely rolled up as shownin Fig. 3. It will be noted that the stack is in effect return rolled upon itself about an axis transverse of the stack and intermediate its ends. If the conditions mentioned above are observed, namely,

that the material to be wrapped terminates short of ad-' hesive area and the distance from the mandrel 41 to the end of the stack abutting stop 46 is less than the distance from the mandrel to the downwardly facing adhesive area 14, and if the distance between the centers of adhesive areas 14 and 15 is substantially equal to the inside circumference of cylindrical guide or mandrel cage' 42, area 14 will engage and be firmly pressed against area 15. Inasmuch as the adhesive material on areas 14 and 15 is of the kind which will adhere only to like material but will not adhere to different kinds of material, it

will not adhere to the inside surface of guide 42 or to the supporting plate 40 during the wrapping operation. .The centrifugal force caused by the rapidly rotating mandrel will apply suificient pressure to the contactingareas to securely join them together to form a strong bond. It will be noted that the pointed end of the wrapper will tend to concentrate the effect of the centrifugal force on the registering adhesive areas.

The relationship of the wrapped material and the Wrapper in the sealed package is best seen in Fig. 4. Bill 13 will be folded upon itself on a line defined by the left hand edge of the upper member 43 of the forked end of mandrel 41 and the wrapper will be folded upon itself along a line defined by the right hand edge of the lower member 4'4. The ends of the bill and the rear edge of the wrapper terminate a substantial distance from area 15 so as to permit unobstructed contact between this area and'area 14. W

The wrapper will, when made in the shape described with at least theend carrying the sealing adhesive areas gradually tapering and whenwrapped with a material in the manner explained, produce a cylindrical package which is firmly packed and hard next to its exterior surface and which will have no protruding ends or edges likely to cause snagging and interlocking between packages held in a common container. As better seen in Fig. 4, the internal wrapping effected by the split wrapping mandrel causes the Wrapper 10 and flexible material 13 to assume a substantially S-shaped form in the center of thepackag'e. The development of the S-shape is, of course, due to. the reversal of the direction of twist of the two portions of the stacked wrapper and material. This configuration of the wrapper and material effects an outwardly directed stiffening force from within the rolled package, but is, at the same time, sufficiently flexible to permit one or several sheets of the material to be wrapped without changing the outer diameter of the package. The outwardly directed force mentioned together with the centrifugal force caused by the rapidly revolving mandrel will press the outside surface of the roll outwardly against the inner cylindrical surface of mandrel cage 42 and the package will therefore always be formed in a given size determined by the internal bore of the mandrel cage. The centrifugal force produced by the rapidly revolving wrapping mandrel will cause the interwrapped wrapper and currency to be sealed in a strained condition. The force due to the persistence of both the wrapper and the paper currency to return to an unrolled state magnified by the S-shaped return bend in the center of the package and restrained by the seal at the location of the registering adhesive areas, is transmitted along the wrapper and along the tapering sealing end thereof to the seal so as to maintain an even force throughout the package. By distributing the re; straining force throughout the package in this manner, the package is firmly held at all points along the axial dimension thereof.

By reason of the described construction of the wrapper and the particular method of wrapping currency, wrappers of the same size may be used for wrapping packages containing various sums of money, thus reducing the cost of the wrappers which is an important factor of the total cost of the wrapping operation particularly where a high speed wrapping device such as that disclosed in the above identified application of Emerson E. Fies, Serial No. 171,981, is used. Furthermore, by making all the packages of exactly the same diameter, the degree of possible misalignment between the registering adhesive areas is reduced to a point where the areas need be made no larger than necessary for withstanding the mechanical strain thereon. The small size of the adhesive areas will also aid inkeeping the cost of the wrappers low.

It will be noted that in order to separate the wrapper and the bill after the seal of the package has been broken, it is merely necessary to grip the two adjacent ends of the wrapper in one hand and the two adjacent ends of the bill in the other and pull the wrapper from the bill which will be in a neatly folded condition. If several bills are wrapped in the package, the wrapper is removed in the same manner and the bills will be left in a neatly folded stack. By reversely wrapping the package as described the bill will have no sharp creases or tightly rolled ends as would be the case if the bill and wrapper were rolled together in a conventional manner.

Wrappers 22 and 30 shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively, are provided with a tear strip which includes the outer adhesive area but they will form a package similar to the one described above and a further discussion thereof is therefore not deemed necessary.

The wrapper and package of the present invention are particularly useful in connection with automatic currency dispensers wherein rolls of wrapped currency are held in dispensing receptacles. The Wrappers may have printed on a portion thereof which will be exposed when wrapped into a package the sum of money intended to be wrapped therein to simplify sorting the packages into their respective dispensing receptacles and to avoid mistakes. When used for this purpose the wrapper is preferably made of the same width or somewhat wider than the width of the bills to be wrapped therein. The wrapper will thus totally enclose wrinkled and frayed bills.

It will be evident that the present invention is not limited to wrapping United States currency but that it may advantageously be used for wrapping paper currency of other countriesas' well by properly modifying the size of the wrapper; "It will also be evident that various kinds of sheet'materials such as circulars, manuscripts, prints, etc., may advantageously be wrapped in accordance with present invention as they will be far less deformed than when rolled up from one end in a conventional manner.

a The wrapper described herein may also be used where it is desired to roll the material and wrapper together from one end thereof as long as care is taken that the circumference of the finished package is equal to the distance between the adhesive areas on the wrapper.

While certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated, it will be evident that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

We claim:

1. A wrapped package of the class described comprising an elongated wrapper and flexible material of substantially equal width and stacked in aligned relation, said stacked wrapper and material being reversely interwrapped about a transverse line intermediate opposite ends thereof so that the wrapper and material assume a substantially S-shape in the center of the package and tensioned to produce a stiffening effect away from said S-shaped center, said wrapper having a gradually reduced width sealing end portion extending beyond the opposite end of the wrapper and the ends of the material so as to make contact with itself, dry adhesive registering sealing means near the end and on the inside surface of said sealing end portion and on the outside of said wrapper at locations where said wrapper makes contact with itself, and tear portions connected to said wrapper by weakended juncture lines embracing one of said areas and including means for readily engaging an edge of said tear portion.

2. Method for forming a sealed substantially cylindrical package of flexible sheet material by wrapping the sheet material in an elongated wrapper having an adhesive area on opposite sides'and near one end thereof and spaced longitudinally of said wrapper, comprising the steps of stacking said wrapper and sheet material so that that side of the wrapper on which is located the adhesive area closest to said one end is on the outside of said stack and so that said material terminates short of the area on the inside of said wrapper, reversely wrapping said stacked wrapper and material about a line transverse thereof and spaced a distance from said inside adhesive area of said wrapper at least as great as from the remotest end of the stack until the stack is entirely rolled upon itself and so that the final circumference of the roll is such that said adhesive areas will register with each other.

3. Method of wrapping a flexible material comprising the steps of applying a dry adhesive to an area on one side and near one end of a flexible, elongated wrapping strip and to an area on the other side of said strip and spaced inwardly from said first area, stacking said material and said wrapping strip so that that portion of the strip carrying said adhesive areas extends beyond the material to be wrapped, rapidly reversely wrapping said stacked strip and material about an axis transverse thereof and spaced a distance from said inside adhesive area of said wrapper at least as great as from the other end of said strip until the stack is entirely rolled upon itself, and limiting the radial extent of the wrapper and material to a circular cylindrical plane coaxial with said axis and of such a diameter that the said areas will register with and adhere to each other.

4. A wrapper comprising a generally rectangular, elongated strip of flexible material adapted to be interwrapped in and around a second flexible material to form a package of predetermined diameter, said strip having at one end a gradually narrowing portion of a generally trapezoidal shape, a first area of adhesive material on said strip on one side and near the tip of said one end thereof, a second area of adhesive material on said strip on the other side and remote from the other end of said strip and spaced from said first area of adhesive material longitudinally of said strip by a predetermined distance determining the diameter of the package formed when the wrapper is interwrapped in and around said flexible material with said areas sealed together, said strip having a pair of cutout portions spaced apart longitudinally of said strip along a line intersecting said areas of adhesive material and at opposite ends of said second area and a pair of laterally disposed perforated lines extending longitudinally of said wrapper between said cutout portions and at opposite sides of said second area to permit ease of removal of the portion of said strip carrying said second area of adhesive material when said strip is torn along said perforated lines between said cutout portions.

5. A self-sealing type wrapper for wrapping paper currenc'y in a cylindrical package of predetermined diameter comprising a generally rectangular, elongated strip of flexible material having at one end a gradually narrowing portion of a generally trapezoidal shape, a pair of cooperating areas of self-sealing adhesive disposed on said strip, one of said areas disposed on one side and near the tip of said one end of said strip and the second of said areas disposed on the other side and remote from the other end of said strip and spaced longitudinally of said strip from said one area by a predetermined distance determining the diameter of the package formed when said wrapper is rolled about paper currency with said areas sealed together, said strip having a pair of cutout portions spaced apart longitudinally thereof at opposite ends of said second area, and detaching means for said second area comprising a pair of spaced lines of perforations extending longitudinally of said strip on opposite sides of said second area between said cutout portions to permit detachment of said second area when said strip is torn along said lines of perforations.

6. A wrapper comprising a generally rectangular, elongated strip of flexible material having a gradually narrowed end portion of a generally trapezoidal shape, a self-sealing adhesive area at the end of said end portion, a second self-sealing adhesive area spaced from said first named area longitudinally of and on the other side of said strip but remote from the other end thereof, said strip having a pair of cutouts spaced longitudinally of said strip and disposed at opposite ends of said second area, and perforations extending between said cutouts on opposite sides of said second area to form a removable tear portion for breaking the seal of a package wrapped in the wrapper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 372,685 Lefevre Nov. 8, 1887 652,370 Murphy June 26, 1900 1,071,227 Greve Aug. 26, 1913 1,159,781 McCoy Nov. 9, 1915 1,608,331 McElwain Nov. 23, 1926 1,827,636 Ames Oct. 13, 1931 1,888,301 Waller Nov. 22, 1932 1,939,794 Seybold et al. Dec. 19, 1933 2,042,799 Ort June 2, 1936 2,053,726 Marshall Sept. 8, 1936 2,096,351 Semonsen Oct. 19, 1937 2,266,547 Goodwin Dec. 16, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 196,445 Great Britain Apr. 26, 1923 590,977 France Mar. 30, 1925 

